Wudtone black magic woman finish, any experience?

GSPBASSES

Time permitting I’m hoping to do Swamp Ash body using Crimson guitars black colour then finishing it with Eze Oil in a couple weeks time. Watch this space, well actually I might start another post.

Jalapeno

GSPBASSES said:

 

Yes I do use Eze Oil on Maple fingerboards. I did this for the first time about two years ago, the fingerboards are not showing any sign of wearing through the oil finish. Unlike another wipe on finished I used a few years back that was showing signs of wearing through in about three months, and then completely through in places after about six months. The great thing about Eze Oil the first 2 -3 coats soak completely into the maple, and does not sit on the surface, so I would imagine even when it did start to wear it would take a very long time before you got through to the wood. I apply the oil to Maple fingerboards slightly different to how I do the bodies, on the first day I put on 5 to 6 coats, I leave this overnight then give the fingerboard light rubdown with wire wool using lemon oil as a lubricant. I then apply another 2 to 3 coats leave this for another 24 hours then give this a light rubdown with wire wool and lemon oil. This will give you a very nice satin finish, or it will polish up with something like G 10, but if you want a natural gloss then after the rub down give it one more coat of Eze Oil and this will give you a very glossy finish.

Brilliant - thanks    (Duly Wis'd)

RedRabbit

TTony said:

@redrabbit - that looks like the sort of "anaemic" result that I've had from Wudtone in the past, so you're not alone.

There'll be a thread here somewhere, if I can find it, documenting my efforts.

How much of the black bottle did you have left over?

You *can* get good results with it (I have done), but the variability of results is what's pushing me towards giving the Crimson / GSPBasses approach a try-out.  

There was very little of the black bottle left - certainly not enough for another coat. I could tell after the first coat that it wasn't going to be anywhere near as dark as I wanted it though. It always looked brown and the second coat just made it more brown. I've since started another tele build which I've used black wood dye on. From the first coat you could tell it was black and that it'd get darker with multiple coats. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2016-03-25 14.15.46.jpg

Nomad

I used Crimson's cherry red stain and guitar finishing oil for my lap steel project, and I'm pleased with the result - nice rich colour.

The bit of meranti I used was very blonde compared to most of the meranti I've seen (not far off the stripped area in Tony's pic above). There were two coats of stain (with a rub of P1000 scotchbrite type abrasive between to flatten the raised grain after the first coat), and then two coats of oil just wiped on with nothing else done. About 4 hours between first and second coats of oil.

TTBZ

RedRabbit that's exactly the kind of result I wanted to avoid! I think I'm gonna go with a crimson guitars black dye and get some eze oil to finish it off. How long do you need to wait between coats of both the dye and the oil finish?

What's the best thing to apply the stain with, just rub it on with an old rag?

TTony

Just ordered some Crimson finishing stuff.

GSPBASSES

When I applied Amber to Swamp Ash bass, I poured a small amount colour into a saucer and wiped it over the body using some lint-free cotton cloth. It only took a few minutes. it is basically one coat but I did wipe it over several times while I was applying the colour without waiting for it to dry. Not sure how soon you could go on the colour after applying it but I waited overnight. I also wipe some colour at the same time onto a piece of waste wood the test purposes. The following day using the test piece of wood I wiped some Eze Oil on to see if it would lift the colour, there was a very small amount of amber that come off onto the cloth, but this did not affect the density of the colour on the body. Normally when oiling a body I would only leave a few minutes between each of the early coats, as I didn’t want to disturb the colour I waited a good 15 minutes before applying the second coat. When I applied the second coats there was no trace of colour on the cloth, so over the next couple of hours I applied another five more coats. Each time I applied a coat to the body I also applied some to the test piece wood. By doing this I could touch the piece of test wood to see if the oil dried. This was then left overnight before likely rubbing down with fine wire wool and lemon oil. As everything seemed to have gone on so well I didn’t apply any more oil to the body.

So if there was no colour on the wood I would apply the first 2 to 3 coats in quick succession, then maybe only waiting 10 to 15 minutes between the next coats until I’d achieved the 6 coats. In between each coat I do check by just running my fingers over it to make sure there was no dust on the body. If there is I would stop and leave it overnight. Then lightly rub it down and start applying oil again always making sure that there was no dust on the body. The reason I check it every time, as I believe I said earlier Eze Oil sets like concrete overnight so if you let the dust settle into it and then put coats on top of that. it is going take an awful lot of robbing down to rectify the problem. To get the best results I have found the less I put on each time the better.

Jalapeno

Now all we need is a way of 0rdering some EZE Oil .....

TTony

Jalapeno said:

Now all we need is a way of 0rdering some EZE Oil .....

According to Mr GSP, Morrells only sell it in 1ltr containers, which would be enough for "a lot" of guitars.  And it does go "off" gradually once opened.

Trouble is, getting hold of some postage-safe containers, plus the cost of p&p, probably means it's about as cost effective to buy it in litre containers and throw away the gone-off 2/3rds once you've done your first 50 or so guitars.

[edit]

Just heading off to eBay to check the prices of some small plastic bottles that could be suitable ...

[edit edit]

50ml bottles at 50p each.

2nd class small parcel at £2.85

1/20th cost of 1ltr EZE oil £1.00 (that's a guess as I've no idea what it sells for)

theFretBoard special finishing oil, now available at £9.99 per bottle.

Jalapeno

Go girlfriend !!!!!!

Sarge

Really want to try Eze oil, I. have a Morrels just 20 mins walk from me so will take a wander at the weekend to see what's what. I'm up for dishing out bottles of it just to cover costs, unless someone else gets there first.

TTony

Sarge said:

Really want to try Eze oil, I. have a Morrels just 20 mins walk from me so will take a wander at the weekend to see what's what. I'm up for dishing out bottles of it just to cover costs, unless someone else gets there first.

Mine is a 20mins drive away ... But I'm more than happy to commit to buying a couple of 50ml bottles.

TTBZ

I'm up for chipping in towards it, I just need a bottle big enough to finish 1 guitar. Doubt I'd find a use for a whole litre.

Sarge

ok that's 2, 3 inc. me... 333ml each so far...

WezV

TTony said:

Sarge said:

Really want to try Eze oil, I. have a Morrels just 20 mins walk from me so will take a wander at the weekend to see what's what. I'm up for dishing out bottles of it just to cover costs, unless someone else gets there first.

Mine is a 20mins drive away ... But I'm more than happy to commit to buying a couple of 50ml bottles.

go on Tony, I will be up for having some more.  Although can i suggest 100ml bottles.  

It will also put it in the same realm as a small bottle of tru-oil, which can do about 3 guitars depending on the method used.  But for a newbie that's a good amount to practice with and start again if need be

TTony

OK, couple of 100ml bottles for me. I was just guessing at 50ml as they seemed to be about the same size as another well-known finishing product.

SteveRobinson

Please be aware that solvent based products are prohibited by Royal Mail. If they discover it's in a package they will destroy it.

I know this from experience

Sarge

Shhhh!

gavin_axecaster

I'm assuming this is not the same product as it indicates it doesn't harden?
http://www.fintrim.co.uk/products/morrells-flooring-easy-oil.html

Jalapeno

Put me down for 100ml or 2x50ml